Follow by Email

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A Crossroads Reflection

Starting off the trip in Vancouver, the
community life at all of the parishes was awesome---we often had coffee and
donuts with parishioners after Mass.

There was lots of fine mist rain, snow in
the mountains, and wild animals. The
trees were tall and beautiful, and the mountains were majestic. We received a lot of apathetic responses on
the road; although, many people stopped to see if we needed help. One truck driver gave Steve a newspaper around
2 AM … we are still trying to figure that one out.

Our group has pretty good dynamics. We often sing the same songs over and over,
including “Ben Dennison” to the tune of “Carol of the Bells.” We often speak
full conversations in just movie quotes. Alex was given a Lord of the Rings
“One Ring” at the beginning of the trip by Maria. We’ve pretended that it’s
heavier for him while praying at the abortion clinics, and that it must be
destroyed in the Eternal Flame in Ottawa on August 11th.

St. Clare and St. Anthony are our amazing
intercessors on the journey. We began
our journey in Vancouver at St. Clare of Assisi parish, and were informed that
we end on her feast day, August 11th. She is the Patroness of media, television,
and good weather. We also live somewhat
like Franciscans on this journey, which fits perfectly with St. Clare. We’ve also asked for St. Anthony’s assistance
when lost on the road, or with lost items in the RV.

At the first parish that Ben Dennison and I
fundraised in, a woman wanted to donate.
She gave us everything she had with her----two pennies. It reminded me
of the woman in the Bible who gave her two pence in the Temple. When Lindsay was collecting after Mass, four
little boys wanted to donate. They had no money, but they gave us the lollipops
they had just received after Mass. One
gentleman accidentally soaked his donation in holy water, by placing the money
in the holy water font, instead of in our basket. As he noted, we now possess “a blessed $10
bill.”

Alberta
--- Wild Rose Country

Provincial
Flower: Wild Rose

Mountainous
for the first part, and then very flat. The sky in Saskatchewan and Alberta is
limitless. Imagining the explorers
discovering the Rockies and B.C. after experiencing Alberta and Saskatchewan’s
prairies has intrigued a few of us, and has inspired me to read more historical
fiction.

Walking
through Alberta on night shift, I happened to look at the water in the field on
our left. I thought the stars were
reflecting in the water, when Cesar noted that they were twinkling too much for
stars. We realized that we were looking
at a field of fireflies. Neither of us
have seen so many fireflies in one place!
They were truly beautiful stars of the field.

The response on the road and at the
abortion clinics in Alberta was often negative, but the host families and
pro-life groups were great. We have stayed with many wonderful host homes on
the weekends. These families, who have
opened their hearts and homes to us, have definitely made an impression, as
their pro-life witness shines through their generosity. During the weekends, we pray in front of
abortion clinics and rest from the week.
The pro-life advocates in every city never cease to amaze me. Many of these pro-life heroes have prayed in
front of hospitals and clinics, a couple of times a week, for decades.

Saskatchewan
--- The Land of the Living Skies

Provincial Flower: Tiger Lily

On
night shift, the van would pull forward from the starting point, drive 5 km,
and then pull over, all within sight. The Corner Gas theme, “So you tell me
that your dog ran away…and then you tell me that it took three days!” does
apply to Saskatchewan! Seeing so much of southern Canada has given me
perspective on the ridiculousness of overpopulation. Canada is so vast, and
there are long stretches without even small towns.

Night shift is a lot of fun, though very
tiring around 4 AM. Hearing the coyotes
barking and yipping at night is an eerie experience. Breakfast at 9 p.m., when we are on night
shift, will forever boggle my mind.

Very Pro-Life---lots of support on the
road, and at parishes. We had two
Barbeques by pro-life groups, one of which was hosted by youth.

Cesar and I invested in Tim Horton’s travel
mugs, so we could refill with our own coffee, or Tim Horton’s if the RV was not
plugged into a power source. Cesar made
the point that we would not confuse our coffees with other people’s coffee---while
he was holding my medium mug, and I was holding his large mug! We often joke that we could write an awesome
Gas Station Coffee Guide for Canadian travelers. I personally enjoy Husky’s and
Petro Canada’s coffee the best.

Friendly
Manitoba

Provincial
Flower: Prairie Crocus

Manitoba is the perfect blend between the
Saskatchewan prairies, and the Ontarian hills and trees. The people definitely
live up to their licence plate claim, “Friendly Manitoba.”

As the pro-life battle is very much a
spiritual one, we often experience minor set-backs. A flying object hit our van’s rear windshield
and completely shattered the glass.
Bethany and my guardian angels worked over time, as the object narrowly
missed our heads! We were delayed a couple of hours while it was being
repaired. Our van has various troubles;
the battery dies, or disconnects, sometimes very often. Continually being on
the run and camping is, for me, the
biggest sacrifice----I have seen enough RV park washrooms, along with the
complete absence of washrooms in the woods---to last a lifetime. I have often experienced homesickness, and
especially felt it when I endured the stomach flu. I’m sure the other team members wished they
were home, when they also caught the stomach flu the following week. Ben and I ran into a bit of a marshy bog
along the side of the highway. I lost a
sandal, but thanks to Stephen for his heroic search for my sandal, and to Becky
for a replacement pair! We all offer up
different sacrifices, whether it is lack of sleep, camping, or suffering from
intense blisters. As this walk is in
service of others, I’m sure we have all experienced redemptive suffering by
uniting our sacrifices with Christ’s Sacrifice, in order to help others through
Christ’s grace and merit.

Ontario
--- Yours to Discover

Provincial
Flower: White Trillium

It is so great to have arrived in my home
province. The day shift included all of
our Ontario team members when we passed the Ontario sign, so we took a picture
of us all kneeling and kissing the soil. I had sorely missed the Great Lakes,
the escarpment hills, and the trees.
Kenora was absolutely beautiful.

Recently at a BBQ, the guys were taken
aside for an "annual tradition." A few minutes later, they returned
with buckets of cold water, which they threw on us girls! Of course, a full-on
water fight took place after that.
Despite our Niagara Falls experience at the BBQ, the guys on our team
are seriously dedicated. As there are
only four men and six women on our team, on day shift or night shift, one guy
has to walk with a girl the entire time.
So, for two guys per shift, one rests while the other walks, and they
have to switch non-stop, while the girls get longer resting breaks.

We stopped on Thursday night and Friday in
Barry’s Bay, ON, and had supper provided for us by Our Lady Seat of Wisdom
Academy, a liberal arts school which is faithful to the Catholic Church’s
Magisterium. 7 members of our group are
Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy current, past, and future students. We “recruited” Lindsay to OLSWA, and Maria picked
up an application form while we were at the Academy.

Quebec
--- Je Me Souviens

Provincial
Flower: Blue Flag

Quebec was beautiful. We were fortunate to visit St. Anne de
Beaupre, Blessed Kateri, and many gorgeous old churches in Quebec City. In Montreal, we prayed in St. Joseph’s
Oratory. We almost did not see Notre
Dame, but then a generous group from Massachusetts gave Alex and Adrian tickets
for our group to see a lights show inside of Notre Dame.

The people in Quebec were very helpful and
friendly---I truly enjoyed our time there.

We received various reactions to our peaceful,
“Pro Life” t-shirts on the road. We did
receive positive feedback about how our message positively impacted individuals,
but the main reaction we received was nothing
at all. Canadians are mostly
apathetic towards this serious issue, and it was oftentimes hard for us to see
the good that we were accomplishing.
However, I find the words of Archbishop Charles Chaput nicely sum up the
hope we must have in this pro-life mission:

"Nothing we do to defend the human
person, no matter how small, is ever unfruitful or forgotten. Our actions touch
other lives and move other hearts in ways we can never fully understand in this
world. Don’t ever underestimate the beauty and power of the witness you give in
your pro-life work."